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Minnesota
Two options for significant parking reforms are under consideration in St. Paul. The City Council could decide to eliminate parking requirements entirely as soon as this summer.
Pioneer Press
Rochester, MN, joins the ranks of cities realizing that community input is worth paying for.
Next City
The state of Minnesota requires local rent control law to be approved by general election, so the city of Minneapolis is forced to take several preemptory steps to get a rent stabilization ordinance on the ballot.
MinnPost
The vision proposed by the groundbreaking Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan is taking shape as zoning amendments move toward adoption.
The Minnesota Daily
Michigan is on fire—a coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly among younger people, including children, yet high-risk activities, including youth sports and indoor dining, remain open. CDC Director Walensky addressed the conflagration Monday.
The New York Times
The city's plan to reduce street parking by 90% in favor of bus lanes and pedestrian infrastructure is receiving backlash from local businesses.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The two states both approved measures that will set VMT reduction goals and create enforcement mechanisms to promote more climate-friendly policies.
State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI)
A coronavirus resurgence is spreading across much of Europe, forcing Italy into a new lockdown a year after it became the first Western country to resort to the drastic measure. The coronavirus has returned in the form of more transmissible variants.
The New York Times
After the Twin Cities lowered speed limits in the urban core of the region in 2020, a trio of suburban cities are planning to follow. Two of the cities are planning to set some speed limits as low as 20 mph.
Star Tribune
The nation's fair housing policies are built on a foundation of assumptions that neglects the community and culture of low-income neighborhoods.
Shelterforce Magazine
The nation's smallest and second densest state has led the country in daily new cases per capita of coronavirus infections for the last week, supplanting the Midwest and Mountain States where the virus has reigned for months.
GoLocalProv
The climate change discussion is usually defined by timelines that reach the end of the century, but some cities are preparing for the future of an altered climate by taking a short-term approach.
Energy News Network
A plan is only as good as its implementation, and so the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan needs the right zoning code to achieve its lofty goals.
Streets MN
The first 20 mile per hour speed limit signs have been installed this week in the Twin Cities.
Pioneer Press
A trio of freeway cap proposals around the country—in St. Paul, Atlanta, and Austin—embody the potential of infrastructure change to undo the mistakes of the past.
UrbanLand
State climatologists are highly confident that heat waves are likely to trend upwards in future summers in Minnesota. To address extreme heat, researchers are identifying the factors that exacerbate extreme heat.
PlanIt - Metropolitan Council
Looking for change in the housing supply? "Don't stop at the zoning code and think you're done. There's so much work left to do."
Strong Towns
As one of the first city's to comprehensively allow for residential density, Minneapolis was probably hoping for more than what it's achieved so far.
City Pages
During the pandemic's first phase in March and April, the Northeast was devastated by COVID-19. After Memorial Day, the surge was in the South and West. As cases decrease nationwide, they are now spiking in the Midwest, particularly North Dakota.
The Washington Post
Minneapolis developers are agitating against the requirements of mixed-use zoning, saying that it's impossible to find a good tenant for ground floor retail these days.
Star Tribune
